Changing Communities, Changing America - Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

Black Issues in Higher Education, Sept 27, 2001 by Jesus Carreon

As we are all aware from accounts in newspapers, radio, television, etc., the demographic shifts that have taken place across this land over the last 50 years, and specifically, the last 20 years, have been staggering. Going further, projections from now to the year 2050 by the Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate a population of nearly 400 million Americans, one-quarter of whom are projected to be Hispanic. With this in mind, it is incumbent on policy-makers and practitioners in education, business and government to begin to seriously adjust their proverbial paradigm to understand this growth in Hispanic America and the possible impact it will have on every sector of life in America.

To start, let us quickly view participation rates in higher education, in general.

From 1980 to 1999, according to the U.S. Department of Education, enrollment in public and private undergraduate programs grew from 10,469,100 to 12,681,200, a 17 percent increase. Focusing on Hispanics and other groups in community colleges, we see the following changes:

* Hispanics went from 5.8 percent to 13.2 percent,

* African Americans went from 10.1 percent to 11.9 percent,

* Asians went from 2.8 percent to 6.4 percent,

* American Indians went from 1.0 percent to 1.3 percent, and

* Whites have gone from 78.8 percent to 65.7 percent.

While we can sit and discuss numbers all day long in an academic setting or in a coffee shop, the true bottom line is the impact that will occur, in the short and long term, of greater rates and success of Hispanics in our nation's colleges and universities. While dropout rates are still high for Hispanics in high schools in various communities nationwide, those communities, as documented in articles and stories all around the country, are addressing this problem head-on. With strategic partnerships between business, education and government, the issue of Hispanic student success as well as the success of all our nation's children must be always a national priority.

Finally, the numbers only suggest a possibility. The reality is that America's communities, America's work force, and our legacy as a free society rest on our ability to understand that paradigms of the past must be adjusted in order to propel us into the future, rather than stumble forward out of inertia.

I for one am confident that our future is a bright one. Americans have always risen to the occasion of crisis and national need. This new opportunity to nurture and encourage our changing human capital is such a case. The American family will, as always, pull together and prosper.

Dr. Jesus "Jess" Carreon is president of Portland Community College in Oregon.